Remedy
by Rainless Thunder
Summary: "Shinichi, you have to choose." Shiho said slowly after she kissed him.


**This is a sequel to Venom, so you should probably read that one first, but if you don't, your not going to be lost or anything. I think. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed**

**Hope you enjoy. **

Remedy

"Unlike her, I've got a backbone."

"Yeah? And she doesn't?" Shinichi countered.

"I can actually keep up with your crazy deductions."

"So?"

"I know what it's like to be a stupid, unbelievable child." Shiho smirked.

"And unfortunately, so do I."

He was a summer boy. He didn't mean to be… it just happened. It was like a bet. She said something, he replied, she retorted, she was right.

_**first summer**_

Her hair.

That tea color. The same color as the tea they'd drink on those sweltering summer nights. Those nights they claimed they were only "fooling around" when that innocent phrase proceeded to them lying in the bed, half-naked, talking together while she sat on his lap.

"Shinichi, I'm bored." She curled her fingers in his dark hair. He could just tell she was intoxicated. The sweet smell of sake on her breath along with her flushed cheeks served as proof.

"Shiho, your drunk I'm sure you should just lie down and sleep it off." Shinichi made to grab her wrists, one hand curling the dark hair on his head, and the other surely but playfully undoing the pale blue buttons of his shirt.

"Who cares if I'm drunk, the fact that I'm bored still stands." she smirked, then proceeded to kiss neck. Her kiss touched each inch of skin she uncovered, down his collarbone and chest, she then brought herself back to his lips. Shiho's hips worked slowly, teasingly against him. The thought of Ran in Shiho's position brought…too cruel thoughts to Shinichi's head. Shinichi found himself giving in, he was bored too, after all. His hands roaming blindly, within minutes he was more pushy and pressured Shiho more than she'd pressured him just a few minutes before.

For heaven's sake, he'd had more sex with Shiho than he'd had with Ran, in fact, he'd never had sex with Ran. That night in the abandoned detective agency was his and he was sure, Shiho's first. Since disbanding the Black Organization two years after that incident, Ran and Kogoro had since come back and taken back the Detective Agency. Throughout those two years, Shinichi's and Shiho's relationship had become increasingly intimate.

Shinichi wasted no time in getting with her. He was Ran's boyfriend, and her his girlfriend. But she was gone so damn often it was ridiculous. Every summer, on the other hand, the second Ran left for tournaments in other countries or places in Japan, just outside his house, when Shinichi would look out the window, stood the girl he'd spend his whole summer with. She waited, her tea colored hair blowing gently with the breeze.

Who could blame him? He was a healthy twenty-two year old and along with that came his insatiable sex drive. Shinichi knew he should have waited until marriage, the way Ran was. But he just couldn't stomach the way Ran looked at their relationship. The girl practically convinced herself they were getting married. As if he didn't have a say in this. To Ran he was like her shining prince ready to sweep her off her feet. The prince was unconscious the whole time this happened. Was he cheating? Of course not, this was like they were taking a break from their relationship, so it didn't count? Right? Who was he fooling, his whole love life was the only mystery he couldn't seem to solve.

This was worse than the first time he'd done it with Shiho. Not the sex, the thoughts. He couldn't feel guilty anymore, he'd made his choice the second he and Shiho had engaged in the intimate activity for the second time, this time because he could actually feel how much he wanted this. Not because he needed some kind release like their first time, but because he realized how he cared for her. How he managed to convince himself what he was doing was the most right thing in the world while at the same time the most wretched.

_**Second Summer**_

Her words.

"Do you think what your doing is right?" she sounded a little sarcastic.

"Do you think it's wrong?" Shinichi would counter, he himself didn't know what to think.

"I think it's wrong but the fact that it's fun outweighs the fact that it's morally wrong."

The whole time she'd scold and reprimand him Shiho would kiss him and feel him and understand him. It wasn't all just about sex. It wasn't sex either, or after the abandon detective agency incident, anymore. Shinichi made love to her. He enjoyed it. He could and would talk to Shiho for hours on end. She would stay at his house for days at a time, she'd even contemplated living there with him. But in the end thought of it as too "wifely" if that made sense.

"Don't fool yourself, this isn't gonna last like this." Shiho warned him, her head lying in his lap. She watched him avert his eyes from hers.

Shinichi turned his head, towards the windows to his right. Outside looked abandoned. Though, in reality was far from it. This vacant look was due to the rare summer storm raging outside. Most people were in their homes eating dinner and cuddling up on their couches and beds. Shinichi watched Shiho pull her knit pale pink sweater closer to her body.

"I love you Shiho."

Shiho looked up at him. He sounded sincere. Like he actually meant it this time. This was the first time he'd said it to her since the incident in the detective agency.

"You mean that don't you?"

"In all seriousness, yes." He placed his hand on hers which was placed on the opening of her sweater. He squeezed it.

"Have you ever said that to Ran?"

"Yes, but I didn't mean it." He looked solemn. "as far as I'm concerned, were just childhood friends."

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm still the other woman." Shiho hugged herself tighter.

"No. Stop being pessimistic. She's the other woman."

Shiho was silent. Shinichi could now feel the feeling of his love for Ran slowly ebb away. She was the one gone all the time, left for something more important than he was. He finally knew what Ran felt like all those years he was metaphorically gone. But he wasn't going to wait for her the way she waited for him. He'd waited long enough. The promise he'd made himself years ago was finally being fulfilled. Shinichi understood he had to forget her, and in the end he finally was. Shinichi no longer felt guilty, he realized Shiho felt the same. But there a feeling he knew she didn't and never would feel. Spite. The venom had begun to sink in.

_**Third Summer**_

Her.

Shiho. Ai. Sherry. Whatever her name was. She intrigued him. Shiho was the closest to everything to him. He didn't want her to be his everything. If she were to leave, he would have nothing.

She tried to remedy him. He was being so hateful. Shinichi thought she wouldn't notice. Maybe all those murders had finally gotten to him. Was it too late to turn back. All those people who became victims of revenge and hate, had all those feelings seeped into him little by little. Ready to take control the second he let it? How could it? Shinichi had become one of the best detectives in Japan. He was naturally gifted at it. He was also naturally gifted at being able to both hurt and help someone at the same time. Shiho felt upset because Ran was the one getting the bunt of their relationship. She didn't want to hurt anyone. But, a long time ago Shiho had found out that that was impossible.

"Shinichi, you have to choose." Shiho said slowly after she kissed him. Their lips broke slowly, hesitantly.

"What am I supposed to do." He looked at her, his lips trembled as Shiho pulled away just far enough to see them. He had the distinct look of someone about to cry. Shiho reached for him.

Their senses partially blind. His hands roamed numbly beneath her shirt. Other worldly sensations overwhelmed them. Shinichi just wanted something, someone to help him forget all the stupid crap he'd done in the past year. He called himself a smart detective, but a stupid person. He had made excuses to pass on hanging out with Ran. Countless times, Shinichi wouldn't answer his home phone. Ran was his first love, wasn't that still true? Who was he kidding? That was a superficial puppy love that lasted years. He hadn't met anyone else he could compare Ran to.

Hands gripped hips and lips met in a feverish rush. Shiho's light pants blew directly in his ear. Shinichi breathed in heavily, it felt like all breath was leaving him. The messy sheets of his bed lay strewn around the floor near the bed. Those sheets much like how his mind was. Messy and in the need of a decision to be cleaned.

This was not like usual, how Shinichi would kiss every inch of her skin, they had all the time in the world. Shinichi worked feverishly fast as if he only had a little time to spare until he faded away forever.

"Shinichi?" Shiho whispered, she looked at the torn man next to her. His face was red, lips swollen from the bruising kisses, and his eyes looked no different from before they had engaged on the mind numbing activity.

"I think I've made a decision." He grinned up at her.

"What decision is it that makes you smile like that?" she smirked.

She hadn't seen that smile in months. This choice was eating away at his insides and corroding his very person. What he said next was what made a seamless addition to what defined him. Always himself, always sacrificing, always Shinichi.

"Will you marry me?"

**Thanks for reading, you lovely people…Review please and tell me if I should continue. When I finished this, I realized I had already set myself up for a third part, but it may or may not happen. So tell me it I should, thanks again and Review! They increase the chances of having a third part. Thanks you. **


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